Old school wanding

[Bucey]

I had a former carpet cleaner do a working interview with me today. I wanted to get a good idea of how he cleaned carpet so I told him to just clean like he was accustom to. I observered him squeeze the trigger and progress accross the room, with out letting the trigger go. After he flushed the carpet he did do a dry pass. He does go over the areas pretty quick but just a lot of water.


Is this how it was done back in the 80's.


No way that is gonna dry in 3 hours.

Your input is appreciated.

 

[Royal Man]

It has nothing to do with the 80s unless that is his IQ.

 

[Doug Cox]

I learned not to do that in short order when I was starting out. Maybe i was just advanced.

 

[Jimmy L]

Learn to adapt by using different type of strokes in different situations.

Don't get stuck with one .

In empty rooms that would be a good technique to make good time.

That water is not going to soak thru unless your doing outrageous flow.

Must be productive because time is money.

Watch these old timers they might know more than you do.

 

[Royal Man]

Trigger on for the backstroke only for me.

 

[Bucey]

I'm good with the guys experience, but he laid down over 80 gals of h20 on 650 sq ft. That a lot to me! It looks like he is wearing him self out. He probly does twice as many strokes than I do in an empty. If I choose to work with him I would like to see the amount of water usage drop some.

 

[Royal Man]

I'm good with the guys experience, but he laid down over 80 gals of h20 on 650 sq ft. That a lot to me! It looks like he is wearing him self out. He probly does twice as many strokes than I do in an empty. If I choose to work with him I would like to see the amount of water usage drop some.

See what happens. Beware that learned habits can be very hard to re-train.

 

[EcoPro1]

Sounds like this would be more of a liability and headache.


Http://www.facebook.com/ecoprocc

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Maybe his experience was with a drag tool.

Don't hire an "experienced" carpet cleaner.

 

[sam miller]

Maybe his experience was with a drag tool.

Don't hire an "experienced" carpet cleaner.

Get rid of cable get direct tv!

 

[Royal Man]

[quote="Lee Stockwell":2ok0rwo8]Maybe his experience was with a drag tool.

Don't hire an "experienced" carpet cleaner.

Get rid of cable get direct tv![/quote:2ok0rwo8]

Good gawd electric, phone and now TV?


Can't wait for the e-mail and constant facebook hype .

 

[XCC]

I had a former carpet cleaner do a working interview with me today. I wanted to get a good idea of how he cleaned carpet so I told him to just clean like he was accustom to. I observered him squeeze the trigger and progress accross the room, with out letting the trigger go. After he flushed the carpet he did do a dry pass. He does go over the areas pretty quick but just a lot of water.


Is this how it was done back in the 80's.


No way that is gonna dry in 3 hours.

Your input is appreciated.

So how long did it take for the "old school" cleaners wanding to dry? Perhaps he was "W scrubbing". Back in the day our cleaning tools were also called "scrub wands". Since when is it not OK to scrub? Sure, some carpets with light to normal soiling should be cleaned with out scrubbing steam on forwards and back, but some do. I know my machine can handle it and dry in 3-4 hrs.

 

[Bucey]

I would check to see how wet the carpet was when done. Didn't feel over wet but my mind is like wow that's a lot of water.

I'm getting ready to go and check on the last house we did to see if it has problems.

 

[Jimmy L]

Maybe you can gently educate him to change his ways.

For me it would envolve showing me a better technique and convincing me.

Just today I did a daycare and used no prespray and only pullback strokes 10 foot long.

200 foot hose run and the last 50 feet connected to the truck was 2 1/2 inch hose

Using my 16 inch castex with 4 jets. Overlap 2 inches and I can do a sizable area quickly.

No pushing and pulling just pull back.

Now if I get in a residential I will do pull back only strokes say behind furniture or lightly soiled carpet.

Some you have to push and pull but on the majority I try and stay with just pull back only.

 

[Ken Snow]

The 650 sq ft with 80 gallons seems like a lot, but without knowing soil conditions etc., it is really hard to judge. I cleaned 12-1400 sq ft of carpet in my condo in the same general manner using only about 25-30 gallons. One direction triggering is not as effective as 2 to me.

 

[XCC]

Maybe you can gently educate him to change his ways.

For me it would envolve showing me a better technique and convincing me.

Just today I did a daycare and used no prespray and only pullback strokes 10 foot long.

200 foot hose run and the last 50 feet connected to the truck was 2 1/2 inch hose

Using my 16 inch castex with 4 jets. Overlap 2 inches and I can do a sizable area quickly.

No pushing and pulling just pull back.

Now if I get in a residential I will do pull back only strokes say behind furniture or lightly soiled carpet.

Some you have to push and pull but on the majority I try and stay with just pull back only.

So you've essentially converted your scrub wand to a drag wand making 10' drags? And you don't prespray? Do you run any emulsy or any type of cleaning solution?

 

[Jimmy L]

Since this was a place that wasn't that dirty all I ran was emulsifier at half the dilution called for in the tm jug.

Every job is different and you have to see what works and what doesn't.

I do prespray most of my residential jobs in just the traffic areas.

To do a 9 step process on every job is just stupid.

Time is money and you have to know from expierence just what you can do and not do.

 

[mcatt]

Hard to break old habits but I did and so did my employee. I use to clean in both directions but as I became more aware of wicking, dry times, etc... I changed my whole process. Now much faster dry times, less wicking problems and happier clients.

 

[Chris A]

I generally trigger on the back stroke only, but i have no problems with scrubbing the shit out of a nast traffic lane or spot to keep me from having to respray

 

[Bucey]

I stopped by this am to check it all out and the carpet was dry. 16 hrs later. the carpet was not soil at all. Only the LR had some traffic but not bad. I used my general mild pH ps.

I have been thinking about training him doing a forward and back open stroke across the room. Or 50 % over lap stroke open on the back stroke only. With a finish dry stroke back across the area.

I saw no wicking at all I'm sure his cleaning style is not way off but I do think we need to adapt to the available technology of chemicals, equipment, and TM that are used today. Just my opinion from observation. He learned his cleaning from a Stanley Steamer Owner back in 85. He was the third van to be added and now they have 14. From what I have learned in the last three years is that the pioneers of the past have lead the way to our current advancements.

This is a very interesting topic and I would love to learn more about how cleaning has changed over time.

Now on dirty carpets him method would rock. but now i would use the 360.

I will up date on progress.

 

[Jimmy L]

I bet SS never used a prespray either hence the over use of water because all they ran was emulsifier.

It's like using a hammer, only so many ways to use one and no matter how old the technique everybody does the same thing.

Getting stuck using ONE wanding technique for everything is the flaw.

Adapt to the situation by learning ALL the different strokes.

 

[Bucey]

I bet SS never used a prespray either hence the over use of water because all they ran was emulsifier.

That is exactly what I explained to him when we were discussing his cleaning.

I too will vary my cleaning stroke as the job dictates.

I just need to help him clean with in my parameters.

 

[XCC]

I stopped by this am to check it all out and the carpet was dry. 16 hrs later. the carpet was not soil at all. Only the LR had some traffic but not bad. I used my general mild pH ps.

I have been thinking about training him doing a forward and back open stroke across the room. Or 50 % over lap stroke open on the back stroke only. With a finish dry stroke back across the area.

I saw no wicking at all I'm sure his cleaning style is not way off but I do think we need to adapt to the available technology of chemicals, equipment, and TM that are used today. Just my opinion from observation. He learned his cleaning from a Stanley Steamer Owner back in 85. He was the third van to be added and now they have 14. From what I have learned in the last three years is that the pioneers of the past have lead the way to our current advancements.

This is a very interesting topic and I would love to learn more about how cleaning has changed over time.

Now on dirty carpets him method would rock. but now i would use the 360.

I will up date on progress.

If you were initially put off by his full on steam w scrub with overlapping dry passes that resulted in a satisfactory cleaning, then perhaps he may alter your technique.

 

[mirf]

does he always clean this way or was there a reason? What did he clean with before?

 

[GeneMiller]

Was his name Rodney . I never was able to change his method without constant supervision

Gene

 

[Lars]

The problem hiring experienced cleaners is that some will bring their bad habits with... The classic "we used to do it like this" or the "I've never done it like that before" can be a big obstacle to over come. They tend to fall back to their old ways...

Some are more willing to adapt and embrace the changes cleaning your way

 

[floorguy]

I do it that way...but its because i use a flow fired heater.....

so if i let go of the trigger every stroke...the burner would either never fire...or fire for about 3 secs.....


one of the reasons i am liking rotarys so much... continuous flow

 

[Bucey]

[/quote]
If you were initially put off by his full on steam w scrub with overlapping dry passes that resulted in a satisfactory cleaning, then perhaps he may alter your technique.[/quote]


Read the whole thread. The carpet was not that dirty, also I have never used 80 gals on 600 sq ft. On avg 40gals.

Oh and satisfactory is not in my Mission Statement.

 

[Bucey]

does he always clean this way or was there a reason? What did he clean with before?

It was a working interview. One day, that was Friday.

 

[rwcarpet]

The 650 sq ft with 80 gallons seems like a lot, but without knowing soil conditions etc., it is really hard to judge. I cleaned 12-1400 sq ft of carpet in my condo in the same general manner using only about 25-30 gallons. One direction triggering is not as effective as 2 to me.

I'm sidin' with Ken here......power on both directions. I run a 59 blower so vac isn't a problem. Just make the forward stroke quick and don't dic around. Slow down on the back stroke to clean and extract, then go back for a dry stroke.

Simple as that.